Articles by Niall Browne

Review: MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE – Way Better Than It Deserves To Be

For over 20 years Hollywood tried and failed to make a new film version of Mattel’s Masters Of The Universe. The 1987 Cannon film with Dolph Lundgren didn’t exactly set the world on fire back in the day (although it plays better now than it [...]

September 7, 2026

Podcast Episode 114: Oscar-Winning Director Kevin Macdonald On Real Time Thriller THE RUNNER

Academy Award-winning filmmaker Kevin Macdonald joins this episode of the Movies In Focus podcast to talk about his latest film, The Runner starring Gal Gadot and Damien Lewis. The Runner is a tense real-time thriller that sees a lawyer (Gadot) [...]

September 1, 2026

Review: Antonio Banderas Takes To The Seas In Shark Thriller ABOVE AND BELOW

Director Jesse V. Johnson delivers hugely entertaining B-movie thrills with his perfectly constructed Above And Below. The killer shark pic is great fun, offering up a great turn by Antonio Banderas. Banderas knows his assignment here and he pulls [...]

August 25, 2026

Podcast Episode 113: Filmmaker Robert Gamperl On Making Short Films & The Western Genre

Filmmaker Robert Gamperl joins this episode of the Movies In Focus podcast to talk about his enigmatic western short films, Darlin and Stubborn. A former football player (or soccer player, if you’re that way inclined) and a very talented film [...]

August 21, 2026

Review: MICHAEL Is An Energetic Prince Of Pop Biopic

A Michael Jackson biopic was always going to be a tricky proposition. The late pop icon went stratospheric in the 1980s and he still has hordes of dedicated fans, however his personal life was problematic to say the least, as his later years were [...]

August 18, 2026

Poster for the Anthony Bourdain film, Tony

Review: Anthony Bourdain Pic TONY Is An Expertly Crafted Gem of A Film

On the surface, an Anthony Bourdain biopic based on a summer he spent washing pots in Provincetown, Massachusetts might not sound like the most captivating of films, but somehow Matt Johnson’s Tony manages to be a fascinating coming-of-age story [...]

August 17, 2026

Talking Danny Elfman’s BATMAN Soundtrack On The Scores Are Not Enough

In the 1980s, superhero films were not as ubiquitous as they are now. The Superman franchise had come sliding to a whimpering close by the time Tim Burton’s Batman hit screens in the summer of 1989. It went on to become a cinematic and [...]

August 6, 2026

Review: Sean Connery In Medieval Mystery THE NAME OF THE ROSE

Jean-Jacques Annaud’s The Name Of The Rose is a richly textured medieval mystery where Sean Connery’s Franciscan friar attempts to solve a series of murders in an Italian monastery. Released in 1986, this adaptation of Umberto Eco’s best [...]

August 6, 2026

Podcast Episode 112: Film Historian & Author Danny Stewart Digs Into Cult Cinema

Film historian and author, Danny Stewart returns to the Movies In Focus podcast to talk about cult films – and his books Saluting The Blood of Heroes: Behind The Apocalyptic Film and Silent Trigger: Shooting The Film. Danny previously joined [...]

August 5, 2026

Artwork of shark's mouth for the film Chum.

Review: Shark Thriller CHUM Doesn’t Have The Chops

If you’re a reader of Movies In Focus, then you’ll know that a good shark thriller is very popular around these parts. In the least year we’ve had some exceptionally good ones – Kiah Roache-Turner’s World War II themed Beast Of War and [...]

August 5, 2026

Review: BOORMAN AND THE DEVIL – A Fascinating Look At A Cinematic Folly

Few films have the reputation of being as bad and ill-judged as John Boorman’s Exorcist II: The Heretic. The follow-up to William Friedkin’s massively successful The Exorcist, the film is notorious for being a total creative miscalculation by [...]

August 5, 2026

Bethany Brown and Tandia Mercedes in A Safe Distance

Fantasia Festival Review: A SAFE DISTANCE Subverts Genre Expectations

A Safe Distance is a character study wrapped up as a genre movie. Yes, the film has elements of a crime thriller, but Gloria Mercer’s drama is really about the evolving relationship between Bethany Brown’s Alex and Tandia Mercedes’ Kianna. [...]

August 4, 2026

Fantasia Festival Review: Zombie Horror Comedy UNHOLY NIGHT Doesn’t Work

Sometimes you go into a film with the whole-hearted expectation that you are going to love it. This happens when the trailer seems to have delivered the goods and got you hooked on the concept and visuals. However, when it eventually comes to [...]

August 1, 2026

Podcast Episode 111: Sean Rowe On Music, Songwriting & FRONTIER CRUCIBLE

Singer-songwriter Sean Rowe joins this 111th episode of the Movies In Focus podcast. Rowe wrote the songs on the soundtrack to Travis Mills’ excellent 2025 western, Frontier Crucible – and these punctuate the film as transitional pieces, [...]

July 29, 2026

Poster for Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey

Review: It’s Controversial – But Is Christopher Nolan’s THE ODYSSEY A Good Movie?

Way back when it was first announced in 2024, I don’t think anyone would have believed that Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey would have been the most controversial film of 2026. However, 21st Century culture works in mysterious ways and Nolan’s [...]

July 28, 2026

Review: THE MORTUARY ASSISTANT – A Horror Video Game Adaptation That Feels Like An Arthouse Film

Director Jeremiah Kipp’s creepy chiller, The Mortuary Assistant sees Willa Holland star as Rebecca Owens, a newly appointed assistant to mortician Raymond Delver (Richard Sparks). Her first night on the job doesn’t quite go to plan and things [...]

July 25, 2026

William Petersen and John Pankow in To Live And Die In L.A.

Review: Willam Friedkin’s ’80s Noir TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A. Gets A Great 4K UHD Release From Arrow Films

In an era of slick and commercial Hollywood thrillers, few films came as subversive as William Friedkin’s To Live And Die In L.A.. Friedkin’s modern noir is a cinematic shot to the face, a bold and brash thriller that grabs your expectations, [...]

July 24, 2026

Review: Arrow Films’ 4K UHD Release Of SOYLENT GREEN Starring Charlton Heston

Science Fictions films don’t get any more prescient than Richard Fleischer‘s Soylent Green. Released in 1973, the film sees Charlton Heston play a detective trying to solve a crime that leads to a humanity-shaking conspiracy. Set against the [...]

July 21, 2026

Fantasia Festival Review: BIG BREAK Delivers Laughs, Thrills & Kills

There’s plenty of fun to be had with Big Break, the new comedy-horror which has its debut at the Fantasia International Film Festival. This is a loose and relaxed genre effort from New York based comedy troupe, Simple Town and it sees a group of [...]

July 21, 2026

Review: Pick Up Arrow Films’ 4K UHD Release of Joel Schumacher’s FALLING DOWN

Joel Schumacher’s Falling Down is a film which manages to be as relevant and incendiary today as it was when it was first released back in 1993. It sees Michael Douglas play a man at breaking point, disenfranchised by society and feeling that the [...]

July 21, 2026

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